What criminals can find in your Toter could end up costing you well over $1,500 from identify theft.

That is why the Manteca Solid Waste Division is conducting a free shred-it and e-waste collection event this Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to noon at 210 E. Wetmore St. across from the city water tower.

Crews will shred all of you personal documents and records at no charge. Just bring them in bags or boxes. You are asked not to bring magazines or books to be shredded.

For security purposes, a Manteca Police officer will be on site.

You can also drop off TVs, computers, printers, fax machines, scanners and anything related to computers to be recycled free of charge.

The cost of the Shred-It trucks is being paid for out of the solid waste fund that is supported by monthly charges paid by ratepayers.

Manteca Police have said it is ironic that many people who want assurances that retailers they do business with shred information about them they often don’t do the same at home and instead toss it into their brown Toters assuming they’re not high profile targets.

Several of the ID theft operations police have broken up in Manteca in the past two years had suspects who hired the homeless to shift through Toters in neighborhoods looking for information that residents discarded so they can steal their identities.

Police say all they need to find is information on your name and just your birth date and they are in business.

Manteca Police handle more than 120 cases of stolen identity a year with each incident costing the victim well over $1,500 even if your bank and credit card companies cover fraudulent charges. That is because it takes an average of 175 hours for an individual to clear up their credit and it more often than not requires taking time off from work to do it.